Palestinian official: United States created Islamic State
Fatah Central Committee member tells Syrian TV the US is to blame for deterioration in the Middle East
Judah Ari Gross is The Times of Israel's religions and Diaspora affairs correspondent.
A Fatah Central Committee member accused the US of creating the Islamic State terror group while speaking on a Syrian news show.
Abbas Zaki, a loyalist of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and a former PLO representative in Lebanon, told Syrian News TV on June 2 the region is on a “destructive path” that was brought about by “the ‘constructive anarchy’ initiated by the US, which was, in fact, ‘destructive anarchy.'”
America has failed the Middle East, he went on, and now “the US is destroying itself by its own hand.”
Asked to clarify, Zaki explained, “They created IS, but cannot control it. Some countries that used to be American allies are now looking for a savior, because they realized that the administration cannot help them or make any agreement with them.”
His comments were translated Monday by the media watchdog group MEMRI.
Conspiracy theories pointing to the US or Israel as having created the Islamic State terror group are not uncommon in some parts of the Middle East.
While the Sunni terror group is an offshoot of al-Qaeda, many analysts point to the US’s de-Baathification campaign in Iraq, as well as the warehousing of senior Sunni insurgents in the Camp Bucca prison, as factors that led to the founding of IS.
This is not the first time Zaki’s comments on TV have raised hackles.
Earlier this year, he called for the murder of Israelis on Palestinian Authority TV.
“In my view, Allah will gather them so that we can kill them. Every killer is bound to be killed,” he said. “There is no other option.”
